Conservative motion calls on Liberals to allow Billy Bishop expansion

The House returns Monday set to debate an opposition motion on a pressure point issue that could cause tension between the Liberals’ Toronto and Montreal MPs: the troubled Bombardier aerospace company.

Conservative transport critic Kelly Block will introduce a motion that the House recognize “there is a market solution already available that could support Bombardier,” and calls on the government to “reverse its decision on restricting the expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.”

Jets are not currently allowed to land at the Toronto Island airport and there’s local opposition to the idea of expanding runway to allow the Bombardier C-Series to fly into the downtown waterfront airport, including over noise concerns.

The motion also says Bombardier has designed the “quietest and best aircraft in its class that is well suited to urban airports” like Billy Bishop, and recognizes the expansion of Billy Bishop “would allow airlines to purchase Bombardier aircraft.”

The federal government has been considering whether to bail out the company over its troubled C-Series line of jets. Bombardier has struggled selling the C-Series, although there was previously talk Porter would order up to 30 C-Series jets, an order worth roughly $2 billion, if the expansion plans were allowed at Billy Bishop.

The Toronto Liberal caucus is on record against reopening the idea of letting jets fly into the airport. Before the election, it wrote to Toronto City Council saying it wouldn’t reopen the agreement and back in November Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who himself hails from Montreal, where Bombardier is based, said the government won’t reconsider the Billy Bishop expansion.

Conservative strategist Tim Powers, Vice-Chairman of Summa Strategies, says the motion gives the Conservatives some room on Bombardier and allows them to “distance themselves from the Liberals on corporate welfare,” which would “appeal to Conservative supporters and people in the West,” in particular provinces like B.C. and Manitoba where they’ll want to bolster voter support.

It also plays the Toronto Liberals off of Montreal Liberals.

“It allows for the game of silly bugger, too, within the Liberal ranks,” he said. “I’m sure there are some Liberals in Ontario who would like to see Billy Bishop expanded,” including those with constituents who find it a “gigantic pain in the arse” to travel to Pearson.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, both Liberals, have recently called on Ottawa to help the airliner, saying the C-Series is important for the economy. Quebec now has a 49.5 per cent stake in the C-Series and two of five seats on a separate board, after agreeing back in October to cut the flailing company a billion dollar cheque. Last month, the company announced it’s cutting 7,000 jobs over two years, which includes roughly 3,000 in Canada.

On top of that, one of Bombardier’s C-Series largest customers, Republic Airways Holdings, recently filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.